Unpakt is 'Yelp for moving companies'

Unpakt was started by Sharone Ben-Harosh, who also owns a chain of moving companies in New York.

Story highlights

Unpakt lets users get instant quotes from moving companies

The site allows users to lock in a price, not get an estimate

Unpakt added two new tools on Monday

Call it Yelp for moving vans.

Unpakt, a comparison site that lets visitors find reputable moving companies and book them online, announced Monday that it's expanding its services, adding the ability to get free, instant price quotes through the site and a tool to help calculate the total cost of a move from various services.

"My goal in founding Unpakt was to bring transparency to the moving industry while taking the hassle out of the booking process for consumers," Sharone Ben-Harosh, founder and CEO of Unpakt, said in a media release.

Ben-Harosh has worked in the moving industry for more than two decades and started his own company in 1991. Part of Unpakt's mission is to eliminate what he says is a common practice among movers -- quoting a price to customers, then adding fees for what are presented as unanticipated costs.

Movers booked through the site agree to a flat rate for a job instead of providing an estimate. Unpakt takes a percentage of the fee for jobs booked through the site.

Headquartered in New York City, Unpakt is currently available in 45 states and in over 280 cities. Most recently, the site has added moving companies in Denver, Colorado; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Raleigh, North Carolina; Cheyenne, Wyoming and Davenport, Iowa.

With the new Quick Quotes feature, users will get price quotes from Unpakt's pre-approved companies in less than one minute. They can select an offer immediately, locking in the offered price.

The Moving Cost Calculator is a widget that can be installed on other websites. It uses the user's basic moving information, like home size and moving address, and then provides three quotes from local moving companies.